Eurodisney Business Case Essay

1) How could the company have erred so badly in its estimates of spending patterns of European customers?

* The idea was market Euro Disney as a complete holiday package and encouraging people to stay in the hotels and eat all meats in the complex.
* While setting prices the Company was unable to estimate spending patterns of European consumers and competitors price alternatives. Due to the location advantage and incredible accomodation prices consumers prefer to stay in the city center.

* Travel time to Paris city center from Euro Disney is only 35 minutes and cost of accomodation in Disneyland is as much expensive as a best hotel in Paris. People prefer to stay overnight in the city center instead of staying in the park.

* At the end of 1992, it became clear that the numbers were not being met – there was a recession and people were bringing their own food and not staying in the hotels for many nights. Park admission prices were also very high ($42.25US for adults)

* Skimming Pricing: is relatively high pricing strategy. It is tempting where product is highly differentiated. Setting prices assuming that demand will not be determined by price and therefore the price can be high with large profit margins. It assumes inelastic demad curve, which sales will not affected by prices.

* Eurodisney saw itself in a monopoly position, and positioned itself in a relatively inelastic demand curve with attracting customers regardless of higher prices. As a result of skimming pricing policy high prices, visitors shortened their stay, avoided hotels abd brought their own food and drink. Many visitors arrived early in the morning, staying late at night or check out early in the morning.

2) Could a better reading of the impact of cultural differences on revenues have been achieved?

There were a few cultural blunders made:

* A no alcohol policy (wine is customary for lunch and dinner in France) and this discouraged visitors * It made mistakes with predicting the peak periods and had to lay off a number of staff when there were fewer visitors, but France has very strict labour laws so they found this to be very difficult

* Disney failed to predict demand for breakfast. They told that Europeans dont take breakfast however demand for breakfast is 10 times more than capacity * Tour bus drivers were not catered for properly, so tour companies did not recommend visiting Euro Disney as much as they would have

* In America there is a well-established theme park culture. In planning Euro Disney there do not seem to have been many contingency plans established. The attitude towards customer habits was very complacent, assuming that there would be so many customers every day, each staying an average number of nights spending an average amount of money (for America that might be the case). * Leftist demonstrators against to American culture. They called the Park an American cultural abomination. * Disney management failed to research the culture thoroughly enough

3) What suggestions do you have for fostering a climate of sensitivity and goodwill in corporate dealings with the French?

* Cultural differences need to be addressed and not just assume that the foreign country will adopt domestic views. The way Europeans took holidays, bought souvenirs, took transport and ate, all affected Euro Disney’s performance * Disney did not understand the differences in the United States compared to European Labor Laws. This resulted in a waste of funding because labor costs in Europe were significantly higher than in the United States

4) How do you account for the great success of Tokyo Disneyland and the problems of Euro Disney? What are the key contributory differences?

Euro Disney contrasted Tokyo in a number of ways.

* Disney invested heavily in the Euro initiative while it never invested any funds in the Tokyo Park since the Tokyo Disneyland was owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company. * Tokyo Disneyland was a major success with a turnover of over 16 million in 1991 as compared to the low turnover in the Euro Disney. * An increasing trend in Japan towards leisure along with increasing appetite for the American food as opposed to the French who never valued the American foods contributed a lot to the success of Disney land in Tokyo. 5) Do you believe that Euro Disney might have done better if located elsewhere in Europe rather than just outside Paris? Why or why not?

* With change of location to be somewhere else in Europe other than Paris, Euro Disney could have not done any better. This is because people in the Europe follow relatively similar cultural norms. It was not only the French who had problems with them, but also others. In Spain where they thought of at first had no adequate space for the establishment of the facility. The master spirit on the sides of the Americans could also not allow them to work in any environment. Moreover a general wave of recession and economic downturn all over the Europe, did not allow such capital intensive project.

6) “Mickey Mouse and the Disney Park are an American cultural abonimination”. Evaluate this critical statement.

* Although European public acceptance of the theme park itself has not been a problem for Euro Disneyland there has been a different type of cultural clash. Most Europeans believe there is cultural imperialism * “Mickey Mouse and the Disney Park are an American cultural abomination” This is a statement connected to the hard line taken by the French Leftist who never accepted the American people to erode their culture. They claimed the pollution on their country’s cultural ambience was due to the arrival of Mickey Mouse and the company. They wanted to see more European culture in
the park than the American culture.

7) Consider how a strong marketing approach might be made to both European consumers and middlemen, such as travel agents, tour guides, even bus drivers. * The strategy was very greedy in buying all the surrounding land so no one else could benefit from the project. This is not going to promote any local support and isolates the project from and other business support. The scale of the investment also isolated them more in the case of a failure. * The idea was to market the Disney as a complete holiday encouraging people to stay in the hotels and eat all meals in the park.

* The travel time to Paris was 35 minutes from Euro disney and the hotel Disney cost as much as the best hotel in Paris, many people may prefer to stay overnight in the city center. * High competition in tourism industry. People passing through the area may decide to take the more traditional visit to Paris instead. * Marketing approach is very strong local partnership is important. In planning, Disney were more interested in the moneymaking ventures than the fundamental details such as providing enough restrooms for coach drivers. Inpatient drivers resulted a decrease in the number of visitors. * Tour guides have direct communication with customers.

8) Discuss the desirability of raising admission prices at the very time when attendance is static, profits are nonexistent, and new attractions are months and several years in the future. * Skimming Pricing: is relatively high pricing strategy. It is tempting where product is highly differentiated. Setting prices assuming that demand will not be determined by price and therefore the price can be high with large profit margins. It assumes inelastic demad curve, which sales will not affected by prices.

* Eurodisney saw itself in a monopoly position, and positioned itself in a relatively inelastic demand curve with attracting customers regardless of higher prices. As a result of skimming pricing policy high prices, visitors shortened their stay, avoided hotels abd brought their own food and drink. Many visitors arrived early in the morning, staying late at night or check out early in the morning.

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